Mobile devices, such as smartphones and wearables, now allow users to perform a variety of tasks that traditionally required different types of devices. For example, a user may be able to use different client applications executable on the same mobile device to browse online content, play audio files, capture digital images, view directions for navigating between different locations or points of interest, and exchange messages between other users or computing devices via a mobile communication network. A user may also download and install various third-party client applications at the user's mobile device for viewing information, photos, and content related to friends, contacts, and/or general topics of interest. An application developer or affiliated service provider may use such a client application to provide different services to the user. Such services may include messaging services to which the user may subscribe in order to receive, for example, real-time message notifications and/or photos at the user's mobile device. The message notifications or photos that are sent (or “pushed”) by a service provider for a particular client application may be displayed within a general notifications window via a user interface of the operating system on the user's mobile device, even when the client application may be closed or may not be actively executing on the mobile device when such notifications are received.
One exemplary application or “use-case” for message notifications and photos relates to sharing photos. Presently, mobile device users share photos with each other using two main techniques: direct messaging and publishing. Direct messaging of photos involves users proactively transmitting, sending, or “pushing,” to one or more of their contacts and/or members of the public the one or more photos that the user desires to share. For example, a user may decide to share, and thereafter, proceed to share, a particular photo with a friend by texting (e.g., via MMS) the selected photo to that friend. Alternatively, a user may decide to share, and thereafter, proceed to share, a particular photo or photos with a group of friends, such as by a group text message thread (i.e., iMessage) or by a group-enabling mobile application (e.g., GroupMe, WhatsApp, etc.). Direct messaging of photos has several downsides, one of which is that direct message photo sharing generally occurs solely at the behest and initiation of the sender himself/herself (i.e., the person having a photo to share). Moreover, direct messaging of photos can be relatively isolated and insufficiently engaging.
In an attempt to overcome these and other limitations of direct messaging of photos, new online and mobile publishing techniques for sharing photos have become increasingly ubiquitous. Specifically, users are now subscribing to any number of social networks, messaging boards, mobile apps, etc., all in an attempt to find a desirable subset of friends, contacts, and/or members of the general public to whom they wish to share their photos. For example, many users now publish various photos using photo sharing software, such as Flickr, or using social networks, such as Facebook and/or Instagram. Like direct messaging of photos, publishing and social network sharing of photos also involve numerous downsides. In particular, as with direct messaging of photos, publishing of photos still occurs solely at the initiation of the publisher (i.e., the user having a photo or photos to share). Moreover, users are often tempted to publish idyllic or superlative versions of themselves and/or their experiences, as opposed to realistic photographs of their everyday lives. Still further, users are sometimes compelled to publish old or “stale” photos, leading to the adoption of the term “latergram,” by which social media users acknowledge the staleness of the photos they are posting. Yet still further, users are often uncomfortable with the scope and audience associated with their publication-type photo sharing, despite the proliferation of numerous privacy and sharing options, or at least the appearance of privacy and sharing options. All of these concerns have led to the recognition of a phenomenon referred to as the “1% rule,” by which it is assumed that a very small percentage of any network's or application's users are actually active contributors to that network's or application's content. A potential sharer of content may contribute to the “1% rule” because he or she is uncertain whether any of their contacts or members of the public have any desire to view the potential sender's multimedia content. This insecurity often leads to under-sharing by users who may have interesting and valuable content that other users desire to view.
Current platforms for photo sharing are not able to facilitate photo-sharing to its full potential (e.g., billions of photos won't see the day and won't be shared or be viewed), because these platforms have not solved certain existing problems, including defining the rules of usage within a photo-sharing platform.
For example, many users may not download an application that includes photo-sharing because the users may receive or think they would receive too many pictures on that application from certain friends/and or a specific community that the user may consider to be spam or simply overwhelming. Thus, there is a desire for a photo-sharing application that may eliminates or reduces spam and/or the notion of spam.
Additionally, many users (especially older generations) may not download an application because the apps may be or perceived to be too complicated to use and/or the users may not be ‘tech savvy’ enough for the application. Many grandchildren may love to receive occasional photos from their grandparents and many grandparents may love to be able to receive and be able to view photos with their grand-children but currently existing photo-sharing apps would need to be drastically simplified to become a multigenerational use. Thus, there is a desire for an application for photo-sharing application that may be simplified for users that may not be as tech-savvy.
Additionally, many users may not share photos because the users may not find what they are currently doing to be interesting enough to interest their audience, or because the users may be shy or insecure about sharing photos for depicting what they are doing. There is, therefore, a desire for an application that would get such users more inclined to send photos or multimedia content.
Additionally, even if a user does receive a request to send a photo and takes a photo, the user may be reluctant to send the photo because the photo may be bad. For example, the user may feel that he or she does not look great (e.g., the user has a bad hair day), the user may feel that the picture is boring, or that the lighting is not as good, etc.
Additionally, even if a user does receive a request the user may be reluctant to send a photo because the user may not have time or does not want to send a picture right away. There is a desire for an app that would allow a user to quickly and efficiently send a photo or respond to a photo request.
Additionally, many users do not share photos because they do not think about posting/sending photos because nobody is asking them to.
Additionally, many users do not want to send, to another user, a request to send a photo, because it may be socially awkward. For example, a user may not typically receive text messages from the friends or family members of the user on a regular basis asking the user to send them a picture of what the user is doing at the moment of the request. Even if the user himself or herself would like to know what a friend or family member is up to at the moment, the user may restrain himself or herself from sending the friend or family member a cumbersome text message of the type “hey what's up? Send me a picture of what you are doing right now”. Furthermore the user may be too lazy to type such a text message each time the user wants a photo for each different person. There is, thus, a desire for an app that facilitates the request to send photo and removes or diminishes the social awkwardness involved with sending a request to share a photo.
There is also a desire for an app that may change the roles of traditional “lurkers” that exist in current photo-sharing platforms, so that the lurkers are no longer, as passive and/or so that the lurkers may become more engaged with other users on of the app.
Accordingly, to date, no suitable systems or methods exist for overcoming the above-referenced drawbacks of traditional direct message and publication-type sharing of multimedia content, such as photos. The present disclosure is directed to overcoming these above-referenced drawbacks, among other things.